Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike
It’s not turning out to be a great week for Zac Goldsmith. While the Conservative MP continues to lag behind Labour’s Sadiq Khan in the polls, he has been accused of running a racist campaign. Despite this, Goldsmith showed no signs of watering down his attacks yesterday in an interview with the Evening Standard. Goldsmith used the interview to
As part of Sadiq Khan’s London mayoral bid, the Labour candidate has rallied against foreign investors buying up London property. In December, Khan told the Evening Standard that it was time to stop new homes going to ‘overseas investors’ instead of Londoners: ‘Ambitious young Londoners are rightly fed up with seeing thousands of new homes each
Last night John Whittingdale’s 2014 relationship with a dominatrix was made public by Newsnight in an interview with Hacked Off founder Brain Cathcart. However, Hacked Off members were soon branded ‘hypocrites’ for forcing a cabinet minister to admit he unknowingly had a relationship with a prostitute — given that they claim to rally against press
As Zac Goldsmith continues to lag behind Sadiq Khan in the polls, even the most die-hard Tories are beginning to lose hope in their candidate. In fact, it seems Zac is falling out of fashion at a rate of knots. Samantha Cameron’s sister — and David Cameron’s sister-in-law — Emily Sheffield appears to be getting
Back in 2010, Arron Bank’s Russian wife Katya had the ability to generate more press than the eccentric Brexit backer. Formerly known as Ekaterina Paderina, Katya made headlines when she was dragged into Mike Hancock’s ‘Russian spy’ scandal. At the time the former Liberal Democrat MP faced questions over his Russian parliamentary aide Katia Zatuliveter —
Given that Syed Kamall is backing Brexit, the Conservative MEP has made little secret of his dislike for aspects of the EU Parliament. However, today Kamall appeared to struggle to keep such feelings in check when a Belgian MEP spoke as part of a session of Council and Commission statements on Counterterrorism following the recent terrorist attacks. Clearly unimpressed by
When Simon Sebag Montefiore interviewed the Spice Girls for The Spectator, the five pop starlets surprised a lot of fans when they revealed their views on UK politics, the monarchy and Europe. Posh Spice, now known better as Victoria Beckham, emphasised the importance of the single currency: ‘The Euro- bureaucrats are destroying every bit of national
Tonight marks the first preview performance of the much-anticipated Corbyn the Musical: the Motorcycle Diaries. The ‘no-holds barred political satire’ musical — written by Rupert Myers and Bobby Friedman — imagines Jeremy Corbyn facing a nuclear crisis. It will also offers a take on what may have gone on when Corbyn and Diane Abbott are said to have gone
One of Ed Miliband’s most embarrassing television moments from his time as Labour leader came when he appeared on The Agenda in 2014. Red Ed was lost for words when former pop star Myleene Klass turned on him on the ITV show as she berated him over Labour’s proposed mansion tax. The former Hear-Say star criticised
This afternoon David Cameron has had to face the music in the Commons over his shares in his father’s offshore fund. While he received a lukewarm response from his own party, the most hostile response came from the Beast of Bolsover. After Cameron gave an address on his tax affairs, Dennis Skinner angrily responded by calling the Prime Minister ‘dodgy
Oh dear. Although Jeremy Corbyn spent the best part of last week calling on David Cameron to publish his tax return, the Labour leader appears to be struggling to follow his own advice. Despite Corbyn promising to publish his tax return last Tuesday, the document is yet to see the light of day. Rather than a tax evasion conspiracy,
Although Liz Kendall insists that she gets on well with her former Labour leadership rival Jeremy Corbyn on a personal level, she is less fond of some of his supporters. While it’s well known that Kendall is on the opposite end of the spectrum to Corbyn when it comes to their political views within Labour, the Blairite says
With the Sunday papers filled with the details of David Cameron’s past tax returns, the subject of his family’s wealth remains high on the news agenda. Happily Guardian heavyweight Polly Toynbee was on hand to offer her take on the row during the Andrew Marr show paper review. Toynbee argued that the real story was not any
Oh dear. David Cameron’s bad day just got worse. After he admitted to previously owning shares in his father’s offshore fund, he has faced calls to resign. Now Lily Allen has promised to pay him a visit. The Smile singer says she will be heading to No.10 tomorrow to take part in a protest calling for Cameron
As David Cameron finds himself in hot water over his admission that he once owned shares in an offshore fund, today ought to be a walk in the park for Labour. In fact, all Jeremy Corbyn need do is give the press a few soundbites on the Tories’ troubles and then sit back and relax.
Last night’s Question Time saw David Dimbleby joined by Anna Soubry, Chris Bryant, Douglas Carswell, economist Ruth Lea and Irvine Welsh. As Soubry, Bryant and Carswell all bickered about the government’s use of £9m of taxpayers’ money for EU leaflets, Welsh — who lives in Chicago — said that even if he had a vote, he probably
Today David Cameron is trying to win the youth vote in the upcoming EU referendum. To do this, he has given a speech to students at Exeter University — claiming that young people will be be hit hardest in the event of Brexit. Taking questions from the audience after his speech, one student pointed out that it may
During the Labour leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn found himself in hot water after he appeared to claim in an interview with the Independent on Sunday that he wanted to reinstate clause IV of the Labour party constitution. The clause — which Tony Blair scrapped — commits the party to nationalising industry: ‘To secure for the
The news today that the government are to spend over £9m of taxpayers’ money on leaflets for the pro-EU campaign has gone down like a lead balloon in the Brexit camp. In an interview with ITV News, Boris Johnson has blasted the leaflets as ‘a complete waste of money’: ‘I think it’s a complete waste of money.
These days the BBC can’t seem to get anything right. On top of regularly riling Brexit-ers with ‘EU bias’, the corporation has been accused by some — including former BBC pol ed Nick Robinson — of showing anti-Corbyn bias. Now they can add a new one to their list; anti-Green Party bias. Yes, Green Party MEP Molly
